Romans 1

• a servant of Christ Jesus: The word servant describes key Old Testament leaders of God's people, such as:

  • Moses (2 Kings 18:12),

  • Joshua (Joshua 24:29),

  • Elijah (2 Kings 10:10), and

  • David (2 Samuel 7:8).

  This title emphasizes the apostle Paul's total submission to Christ as Lord.

• set apart: Paul may be saying that God set him apart for his mission before he was born. This idea is similar to the call of the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5). Paul may also be thinking about God’s call during his conversion on the road to Damascus, when God chose him for a special task (Acts 9:15–16; compare Acts 13:2). God called Paul to preach the good news about Jesus to Jews and especially to Gentiles (non-Jews).

• The good news, also called "the gospel," appears many times at the beginning of this letter (Romans 1:1, 9, 15, 16). Paul takes the word gospel from the Old Testament. There, the Hebrew word refers to news of victory. It describes the victory God wins for his people and the hope he brings to them (Isaiah 40:9; 41:27; 60:6; 61:1; Nahum 1:15; see Joel 2:32).

These verses include typical features of New Testament letter introductions:

• identifying the writer or speaker (1:1–6),

• identifying the audience (1:7),

• a section of giving thanks (1:8–15), and

• the theme of the letter (1:16–17).

• According to the flesh: Paul often uses the word flesh (Greek sarx) to speak about bodily life in this world (for example, 4:1; 8:3).

• Paul mentions King David’s family because God promised that a person descended from David would be the Messiah (God's chosen one) and would have an eternal kingdom (2 Samuel 7:13–16; see Isaiah 9:7; Jeremiah 33:15). Jesus was born into David’s family line (Matthew 1:6; Luke 1:27, 32). This shows that he met God’s requirement to fulfill this promise.

In the Greek text, these verses have a parallel structure. Paul might be quoting an early Christian statement of belief or a song about Jesus Christ as God's Son. He likely does this to show that they shared the same beliefs, since he had not yet visited them.

was declared with power to be: Although Jesus has existed forever as the Son of God, his resurrection demonstrated him to be God’s Son, revealing him in all his power and glory. (1:3).

• received … apostleship: The apostle Paul might be referring to both himself and the other apostles, or he might be using "we" to only refer to himself.

• we received grace and apostleship: Paul always makes it evident that his unique authority is a gift from God (see also 15:15–16).

• to the obedience that comes from faith: This summarizes Paul’s goal in preaching to Gentiles (non-Jews). It frames the book of Romans, as he repeats the idea in different words at the end of the letter (16:26). Paul wanted Gentiles to trust in Jesus Christ. He emphasized that trusting in Jesus Christ as the Lord means committing to obey him. Faith and obeying are not the same, but one does not happen without the other.

be saints: This essentially means to be set apart for God. This expression appears throughout the Old Testament to describe Israel, God’s people whom he chose (compare Exodus 19:6). God called Israel from among all other nations to belong to him. Paul calls the Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians "saints." Paul makes it plain that Gentiles who trust in Christ are now fully included among God’s people.

with my spirit: This might mean God's Holy Spirit influences Paul's inner self. The word spirit also refers to the deepest part of a person.

some spiritual gift: Paul probably means the spiritual benefit he hopes his ministry will bring to the Roman Christians.

• brothers: The Greek word adelphoi describes people who are in a family relationship. Paul and other New Testament writers use this word to show that Christians belong to one family because they are united in Christ. The word refers to both male and female Christians.

• but have been prevented from visiting until now: Paul wrote this letter while in Corinth near the end of his third missionary journey (see Acts 20:2–4; compare Romans 16:21–23). Paul had been busy planting and supporting churches in the eastern Mediterranean. Before visiting the Roman Christians, he needed to return to Jerusalem to deliver money collected from the Gentile (non-Jewish) churches for the poor Jewish Christians (15:23–29).

to Greeks and non-Greeks: The Greeks were proud of being educated and cultured. They often thought people from other cultures were inferior. They mocked the way foreigners spoke Greek, saying it sounded like “bar bar,” a meaningless sound. From this mockery comes the word barbarian (a person seen as uncivilized). Paul refers to this cultural divide to show that he wanted to preach the good news about Jesus to every kind of person.

The apostle Paul often emphasizes that the gospel (the good news about Jesus) is for everyone. He also insists that God first chose the Jews to be his people. God made promises to them and gave them a unique role in his continuing plan (3:1–8; 9:1–5). They have a special responsibility to respond to the gospel. They will experience God's judgment first if they reject the gospel (2:9–10).

• the righteousness of God: This important phrase appears eight times in Romans (see also 3:5, 21, 22, 25, 26; 10:3; the only other occurrence in Paul's writings is 2 Corinthians 5:21). In the Old Testament, God’s righteousness refers to who God is (holy and faithful) and to what God does when he rescues his people and makes things right (see especially Isaiah 46:13; 51:5–8). Paul uses the second meaning in this verse. The gospel (the good news about Jesus) has the power to save because it fulfills God's promise to defend his people.

• "The righteous will live by faith": The prophet Habakkuk struggled to understand how God could use nations that worshiped false gods to judge his own people, Israel. God reminded Habakkuk that his true people were the righteous, who needed to live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4). In Romans 1–4, Paul often insists that only by faith can humans become right with God.

The wrath of God: God’s wrath (or anger) is not a sudden emotional reaction. It is the holy God’s necessary response to human sin. Because God is just and good, God must respond to what destroys life and faithfulness.

The Old Testament often describes God’s wrath in specific historical events, such as Israel’s rebellion or injustice among the people (Exodus 32:10–12; Numbers 11:1; Jeremiah 21:3–7). It also looks ahead to a future time when God will judge human sin in a final and decisive way.

Paul usually speaks of God’s wrath as something that will happen at the end of history (Romans 2:5, 8; 5:9; Colossians 3:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:10). However, when Paul uses the present tense and says that God’s wrath “is revealed,” he points to God’s actions in history as well. These passages show that God has already responded to sin throughout human history, not only at the end of time.

Paul waits to explain righteousness through faith (see 3:21) until he first teaches about the sinfulness of all people. Both non-Jews and Jews are equally under the power of sin (1:18–32; 2:1–3:8). Because of this, both groups are in the same situation before God. No one can gain God’s favor by their own actions or obedience (3:9–20). All people need God’s saving action, not their own efforts.

In Scripture, to know God usually means to have a close and saving relationship with him (see 2 Corinthians 5:16; Galatians 4:9; Philippians 3:8, 10). Here, however, they knew God means that people knew about God. All people have some understanding of God through creation, but they do not do what is right based on that knowledge. Instead of learning more about God, they worship gods they create themselves.

When people replaced the living God with idols (false gods), God abandoned them. Paul emphasizes this point twice more in this paragraph (1:26, 28). The phrase gave them over suggests that God actively allows people to experience the consequences of their sin.

Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones: In this context, the natural way refers to the nature of the world as God made it.

As in the Old Testament, Paul refers to same-sex sexual behavior as one example of how people have turned away from honoring the true God (see Genesis 19:1–28; Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13; Deuteronomy 23:17–18).

God created human beings as male and female, and engaging in same-sex sexual activity is a violation of God’s creative intention.

received in themselves the due penalty for their error: When people turn away from the Creator’s purposes, God judges their actions. This judgment can happen in many ways, but the final result is spiritual death (see 1:32).

they did not see fit to acknowledge: Sin affects what people do and how they think. One serious result of turning away from God is an unsound mind. People can no longer think in the way God intended.

This list of sins follows a popular Hellenistic literary form called a vice list (a list that names sinful behaviors). The list does not include every sin, but it shows the many ways evil can appear.

To encourage others to sin is worse than sinning oneself (James 3:1; compare Testament of Asher 6:2: “The two-faced receive double punishment because they practice evil and approve of others who do the same; they imitate the spirits of error and join in the fight against humanity”).